Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRODUCTION

Last week we kicked off a new series entitled ‘The Mystery of God.’ It’s an exploration of this phrase we first encountered in our study of the Book of the Revelation.

Jesus reveals to John that in the days when the seventh angel will blow his trumpet “there will no longer be any delay but that the mystery of God will be completed.”

The question is “What is that mystery?

When was it revealed and to whom?”

Those are the questions we are answering in this series.

Concealed Then Revealed

Last week we looked at the mystery revealed out of Colossians 1.

The apostle Paul said that he was commissioned by God to be servant of the mystery.

He even went on to define the mystery as being the reality of “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

In that way - the mystery isn’t something secret or unknown.

The mystery is something that was hidden from God’s people in the past but now revealed to God’s people in the present.

Under the Old Covenant there were shadows and types that pointed to the mystery being revealed but it wasn’t actually revealed until the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

His life, his death, his resurrection and ascension revealed everything that God had been pointing to in the Old Testament.

Mystery = Gospel

If you wanted to sum up the word mystery in a single word you might use the word “Gospel.”

The mystery that Paul was commissioned to proclaim was the Gospel.

The message that we are loved by a holy God who created us but we have fallen short of his glory because of our sin and rebellion.

Though we deserve to be cut off and eternally punished for our rebellion against God, he has made a way for us to be reconciled.

What was lost because of sin can now be recovered and restored through repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, those are are in Christ are under a new covenant.

We belong to a new family.

We are citizens of a new kingdom - the kingdom of God.

Not only are we forgiven of our sin, the Spirit of Christ actually comes to live inside our bodies so that we are empowered to live a new life for God’s glory and our good.

When you come to understand and truly embrace the good news of the Gospel then everything in your life will be different.

We saw this last week and we’ll see it again this week.

Not only does it transform your spiritual state of being - it transforms your mind, your attitude, your speech, your purpose for living and everything else about you.

Christ IN you changes everything ABOUT you.

The glory that was lost - the glory we spend our entire life chasing and covering up its absence - that glory is recovered and displayed when we yield ourselves to the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

Displayed Through the Church

Today’s we’re going to continue unpacking this “mystery.”

Instead of looking at what the mystery IS we’re going to see how the mystery is DISPLAYED.

It was revealed through the Lord Jesus Christ: his life, death, resurrection and ascension.

The mystery is the Gospel you believed when you became a follower of Jesus and the Gospel we proclaim to those who are not yet followers of Jesus.

But what was God’s plan for displaying the mystery?

How would the world KNOW about this incredible gift?

This promise of glory?

It was the plan of God from the very beginning to display the significance and beauty of this mystery through this thing we call “the church.”

And as we think about the Church I know it’s tempting to think about the universal church - capital C - and it’s true God does display his mystery though the church universal.

But the universal church is hard to SEE.

You can’t see/talk to the pastor of the universal church.

You can’t attend it’s worship services.

You CAN see the local church.

Local churches are the platforms through which God displays the significance and beauty of His mystery, the Gospel.

DISPLAYING THE MYSTERY

That’s what I want us to look at this morning through Paul’s letter to the Ephesians in Ephesians 3:1-13.

For those of you unfamiliar with the book of Ephesians it was a letter written by the apostle Paul to a strong and growing church in Ephesus.

It was planted by Paul and being pastored by a young man named Timothy.

There is no better NT book for understanding the relationship between the Gospel, the Church and the practical application for your individual Christian life.

It’s one of my very favorite NT books.

The Context to Chapter 3

Paul discusses the “mystery” of God throughout the book of Ephesians.

He begins in Ephesians 1 by defining the mystery of God as his plan “to bring everything together in Christ, both things in heaven and things on earth in him...” (Ephesians 1:10)

He spends all of chapter 1 unpacking the implications of the Gospel and the nature of salvation.

At the end of chapter 2 he discusses how Christ didn’t just die so that “Israel” could be saved but that the death of Jesus was for ALL.

In Christ, we are ALL one family whether Jewish, Roman, Barbarian, Scythian, Slave or Free - all of that diversity finds unity and reconciliation when they become reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ.

Then in chapter 3 he starts to wrap up that theological section with a prayer that they might fully comprehend the love of God but he gets distracted and chases a rabbit that essentially summarizes chapters 1-2 before making that prayer.

(You see this by comparing v 1 and v 13)

Read the Text

Our text is that rabbit chase - a parenthetical section about the mystery of God and God’s plan to display that mystery though the local church.

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Ephesians 3:1–13 (CSB)

1 For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles—2 assuming you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that he gave me for you. 3 The mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have briefly written above.

4 By reading this you are able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ.

5 This was not made known to people in other generations as it is now revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: 6 The Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and partners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

7 I was made a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by the working of his power.

8 This grace was given to me—the least of all the saints—to proclaim to the Gentiles the incalculable riches of Christ, 9 and to shed light for all about the administration of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things.

10 This is so that God’s multi-faceted wisdom may now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavens.

11 This is according to his eternal purpose accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.

12 In him we have boldness and confident access through faith in him.

13 So, then, I ask you not to be discouraged over my afflictions on your behalf, for they are your glory.

There are many directions we could go with this passage but the main focus is verses 9-10.

Paul says, even though I was the least deserving (having persecuted the church) I was called by God to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles - to proclaim the incalculable riches of Christ

“9 and to shed light for all about the administration of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things.

10 This is so that God’s multi-faceted wisdom may now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavens.”

(Ephesians 3:9-10)

Painting a Picture

I came across a great illustration of this text the other day.

Imagine God as a painter, painting on a huge canvas with many brushes.

Have you ever watched a painter paint something and at first it’s kinda mysterious what the end product is going to look like?

You can see shapes and outlines but it’s not until closer to the end that everything comes together and pops and becomes this incredible display of the wisdom and beauty that was in the artists mind?

That’s sorta what Paul is describing here.

The title of this painting is “The Mystery of God.”

You and I are the paint.

Locals churches like ours constitute the paint brushes.

Heaven and earth constitute the canvas and as God paints on the canvas with those brushes the “rulers and authorities” are shown the manifold wisdom of God.

You may not be able to see God but you can see the wisdom of God and the power of God when you watch the Gospel go to work in and through a local church.

It is the mystery of God displayed.

Churches and the people within them are as diverse as the colors on a color wheel.

We all have our unique flavor and style.

On our own, we might be somewhat boring or unimpressive.

But when we yield ourselves to the Spirit of God and allow our heavenly Father to use us according to his eternal plan - the beauty and wisdom of God will really begin to shine.

Word Study

Paul uses the term “God’s manifold wisdom.”

It’s an interesting Greek word.

It’s used only here in the entire Greek NT.

The first half of this word is used throughout the NT and it means “diversified or varied.”

It’s a complex web of nuance and color.

To that Paul adds the prefix “poly” which means many.

So it amplifies the idea of variety or diversity.

The emphasis is on many colors and variation and intricacies and subtleties.